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YouTube Tips 'Made for Kids' versus 'Not Made for Kids'.

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Halftoon_Gaming

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Hi guys

I'm fully behind every initiative to protect kids online and on YouTube. So I am a big fan of the Not Made for Kids feature.
On our channel we have videos for kids such as Minecraft etc but also some mature audience stuff like GTA and Call of Duty. We are a very small channel with 78 subs and videos rarely get over 100 views but I've noticed that when we release 'Not made for kids' videos, they do substantially worse than the others.
For example, a minecraft video will get 30 views but a call of duty video will only get 7.
Is this normal?
I'm sure a lot of people would ask... "Why are you bothered when you never get 100 views?" but it makes my son happy so I'll be trying to help him as long as he wants me to.

Thanks guys. Stay safe!!
 
BraveStar

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Well, the one piece of advice we give Youtubers with small channels is to concentrate on creating content and learning from that content to see what works and what doesn't and adjust your videos accordingly. In this case it seems your audience is more interested in Minecraft videos (which is a very popular genre) whereas the COD content is not to their liking thus you're missing out on their views. These days Youtube channels tend to do better when they stick to one particular type of video though smaller channels can experiment to see what drives more views. It may also be that YouTube's algorithm is sharing your Minecraft content more than your COD content and it may be getting a bit confused because of the inconsistency of the content and the analytics of each type. It seems you may want to consider focusing more on Minecraft than COD. Or perhaps consider a second channel for your COD content. I know it would be more convenient to have it all in one place and it would suck to have to let go of something you enjoy playing and creating content on but if growth is what you're looking for it seems Minecraft is the way to go and COD may need to move to another channel or be left out for a while till you grow enough to make the content less about the games and more about the creator.

Just my 2 cents.
 
Beanie Draws

Beanie Draws

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This might also be why your minecraft content performs better than call of duty content.


Screenshot (7561).png
 
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BuddyColeen

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I found out Made For Kids won't allow the mini screen. I love that feature and even though my videos are kid friendly, I got more views when I clicked not made for kids probably because of that. I would say try both and see which gives you more views.
 
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Halftoon_Gaming

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Brave Starr said:
Well, the one piece of advice we give Youtubers with small channels is to concentrate on creating content and learning from that content to see what works and what doesn't and adjust your videos accordingly. In this case it seems your audience is more interested in Minecraft videos (which is a very popular genre) whereas the COD content is not to their liking thus you're missing out on their views. These days Youtube channels tend to do better when they stick to one particular type of video though smaller channels can experiment to see what drives more views. It may also be that YouTube's algorithm is sharing your Minecraft content more than your COD content and it may be getting a bit confused because of the inconsistency of the content and the analytics of each type. It seems you may want to consider focusing more on Minecraft than COD. Or perhaps consider a second channel for your COD content. I know it would be more convenient to have it all in one place and it would suck to have to let go of something you enjoy playing and creating content on but if growth is what you're looking for it seems Minecraft is the way to go and COD may need to move to another channel or be left out for a while till you grow enough to make the content less about the games and more about the creator.

Just my 2 cents.
Click to expand...
Brilliant advice. Thank you so much
 
Kindred

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Oh no - I've been doing 'not made for kids' in all my videos because I thought 'made for kids' meant its targeted at kids. Kids could definitely watch my videos - they would be suitable. So am I right that, if I change to 'made for kids' I will reach a wider audience?
 
SILTHW

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Beanie Draws

Beanie Draws

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Halftoon_Gaming said:
So basically it can often just boil down to something as simple as "it's not what people want"? Makes sense I suppose. Thanks for the reply, much appreciated
Click to expand...

To be fair, these days the algorithm follows the audience (instead of views) so if people are less interested in a topic, they'll naturally watch less. That's why I'm trying to focus my content more around trends within my passions.
But views also tie into audience retention. If the video isn't engaging enough to keep the audience engagement high, YouTube won't suggest the video as much. I'd be curious to see what your audience retention graph looks like for your typical Minecraft video, and then what your graph looks like for call of duty. My guess is the audience's watching habits are different for different games. Would be interesting to see how they compare analytically.
 
Stanley | Team TB

Stanley | Team TB

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There is a bit of confusion regarding the 'Not Made For Kids' vs "Made for Kids' designations and I feel it warrants mentioning any time I see people ask about this. The FTC made a bit of a snafu when they decided to come down on YouTube about their practices of monitoring view behavior for users under 13. That is what ultimately forced YT to differentiate the content, but it isn't really a 'Made For Kids' versus 'Not Made for Kids' differentiation. It's more of a 'Made for Kids' vs "Made for General Audience' designation.

The issue that YT and the FTC are trying to avoid is having ads served to a viewer based on viewing habits. They can't track it for anyone under 13 (and therefor ads for that demographic are of really low value, hence all the lamentation about being demonitized).

So in the case above, this is not 'Kids' content. It is content for a general or mixed audience. As long as you are not targeting children for your audience you are ok.

As a disclaimer I will say that this could be perceived as legal advice, which it is not. To my knowledge there has not been a legal case involving a channel where a court set a precedent for 'Kids Content' vs 'General Audience' designations and even if there was I am certifiably NOT the person to go to for legal advice. I am simply regurgitating information that I have come across speaking to other creators since the FTC cracked down on YouTube.
 
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